The talk of legal Twitter over the weekend has been Andrew Dhuey’s motion to dismiss for the defendants in the monkey-selfie case. His brief begins (h/t Pogo Was Right):
INTRODUCTION
A monkey, an animal-rights organization and a primatologist walk into federal court to sue for infringement of the monkey’s claimed copyright. What seems like the setup for a punchline is really happening. It should not be happening. Under Cetacean Community v. Bush, 386 F.3d 1169 (9th Cir. 2004), dismissal of this action is required for lack of standing and failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Monkey see, monkey sue is not good law – at least not in the Ninth Circuit.
RELEVANT FACT
The only pertinent fact in this case is that Plaintiff is a monkey suing for copyright infringement.
Meanwhile, on what I suppose you could call a parallel track, from Broward County, Fla.: “Attorney Kenneth Trent says the turtles themselves have standing to sue in federal court” [AP/Fox DC]
Comments are closed.